Persistence and Loyalty
by meikouhaikitsune
Summary: Eli wasn't one to stand up to bullies, but Colonel Young was definitely over-exaggerating. Add on to: Rules of Logic and Relationships.


They were all in the mess. Chloe was glued to Matt's side and Eli was pretty proud of himself for not minding. Why would he mind? He was able to spend the last moments, or so he'd thought at the time, of his life with Rush. They'd moved through the star, and even though the light was iridescent, Rush hadn't looked away from him after he'd grabbed the man's hand. He'd only kept his face buried in Eli's hair until which point the entire of Destiny started to light up and they were forced to their super genius duties.

Well, pretending to be super geniuses maybe, it's not exactly as if they knew what they were doing when they stood in front of the controls.

He came out of his musings as the mess went quiet; he followed everyone else's attention until his gaze landed on Dr. Rush. For some reason, the thoughts stopped and the math in his head began. There was just something about the scientist that made Eli want to prove he was smart. He didn't want to be like the astrophysicist that Rush had kicked out of the control room before he'd had his caffeine deprived melt down.

Colonel Young stood, pushing most of his weight onto the shot gun he was using as a cane. He greeted Rush happily and Eli didn't need to know the odds of this turning out bad. Rush look annoyed, angry and tired. Colonel Young looked mostly like an over eager puppy that was happy to have his bone back. Eli saw the look on Rush's face as the Colonel offered him double rations. That was the type of look scientists had before they decided to hack people's credit cards or blow up solar systems. He stood up hastily as he heard Young accuse Rush of knowing they'd be fine. That he'd known there wouldn't be any danger in approaching the star.

"He didn't know," Eli spoke loudly, everyone's eyes turned to him. Even Rush, who looked slightly surprised that someone was defending him even though he knew everyone else thought he was guilty.

"I was with him, the whole time. None of us could have guessed that would occur. It was only an impossible hope. Any of us could have predicted such outrageous outcomes only for them not to occur, just because it happened doesn't mean it would have happened. It wouldn't have mattered if he guessed not. No one knew, Colonel, let it go. We're here; we're in this together. Unless you want antagonism to grow, you're going to have to set an example… sir," Eli tried not to snort out a snicker when he heard TJ snicker behind him.

"He's right, sir," Johansen spoke briskly when the military man turned to her at her sound.

Young nodded his head and looked between Rush and their group at the table before walking out of the mess without another word.

"I don't think he likes our live and let live attitudes…" Eli mumbled. He leaned back slightly when TJ got up close and person with him from across the table and narrowed her eyes slightly.

"Are you crushing on the doc?" she interrogated quietly.

Eli was pretty sure his eyes hadn't widened so quickly since he'd discovered video games. He almost fell back out of his seat as he denied it immediately, turning his gaze to Chloe and Matt helplessly before he looked to TJ.

He could hear Rush chuckling darkly behind him, in only the way he could. He refused to look back; TJ would only take that as a win. He shook his head and waited until she moved back before grinning awkwardly and going back to his ration. He heard Rush leave, he waited a few minutes before leaving to follow the man. He totally ignored TJ's knowing look and followed Rush like the puppy he'd described Young as being earlier.

The man seemed to realize Eli was following him, or obviously he was a scientist for a reason. He really was observant. He followed the man into his chambers, still feeling slightly awkward even though he'd practically been engraved an invitation to enter.

"Thank you, Eli, for standing up for me."

"Well, I have your back. I said that. Besides, no one knew, even if you sort a did. Young needs to realize we're stuck here. We have to get along."

The doors closed after a few moments, once Eli had entered the rooms fully. It was quiet for a comfortable amount of time before Rush approached him. His hand slid up the side of Eli's neck and right into his hair.

Eli was pretty sure his heart was beating faster than FTL.

Then, Rush kissed him and he was pretty sure no video games had ever done it for him like those too short seconds of Rush's lips on his. The man's hand tightened in his hair for a moment when the kiss deepened. They didn't exactly pull away, but the kiss slowed and sort of did but didn't stop.

Eli was really glad people were too happy to be alive to actually think about searching Rush out to do something stupid for them. Like re-push the buttons to turn off the things they'd been told not to turn on. He shyly brushed his hand against Rush's free one and felt his heart literally soar when the man gripped his hand and began kissing him again.

He'd been kind of listless, once things had settled and they knew they weren't going back to Earth. He'd just followed everyone away, waiting for something to do; waiting for someone to tell him what to do. He knew what to do now, and it didn't involved the higher brain functions most people didn't think him capable of.

He was positive that anything he and Rush did together though would probably supersede the amount of effort of how much work had gone into the millennium problem that had brought them here.

He was okay with that, especially if Rush's real orgasms were anything like his geek-gasms.


End file.
